Managing Firmware Upgrades

This chapter discusses the following topics:

About Upgrading Firmware on Rack Servers

In Cisco UCS Director, you can create firmware upgrade profiles and then use these profiles to upgrade the firmware on rack servers. You can create the following types of firmware upgrade profiles:

Adding Images to a Local Cisco UCS Director System


Note

Starting with Cisco UCS Director 6.8(9.0), to download server firmware software from Cisco, you must activate your device first using Activate Device under the Images – Local . Then download server firmware software by clicking the + (plus) icon under Images – Local .

Device activation stays active for an hour post which re-activation is required to download software again from Cisco.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.

Step 3

Click Activate Device. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Step 4

Click Add.

Step 5

In the Add Firmware Image - Local screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Profile Name field

Enter a descriptive and unique profile name.

The profile name must be unique across both Local and Network image profiles.

Proxy Configuration check box

(Optional) Check this check box to enable proxy configuration and complete the following:

  • Host Name field - Enter a host name for the proxy configuration.

  • Port field - Enter the port for the proxy configuration.

Platform drop-down list

Choose a platform from the drop-down list.

This list displays only those platforms that have at least one server being managed.

Available Image drop-down list

Choose the .iso image from the drop-down list.

Download Now check box

Check this check box to download the .iso image immediately after adding a profile.

Graceful Timeout check box

Check this check box to specify a time period within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Note

 

You can configure graceful timeout for systems running Cisco IMC 3.1(3a) or higher.

If you do not provide a timeout period, then the system is forcibly shut down after 120 seconds.

Timeout (in mins) field

Specify a time period, in minutes, within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

You can specify a value between 0 and 60.

Force Shutdown Server check box

Check this check box to forcibly shut down the host system if it did not shut down within the time specified in the Graceful Timeout (in mins) field.

This option is enabled by default.

Accept License Agreement check box

Check this check box to accept the license agreement.

Click on the Terms and Conditions link to read the End User License Agreement.

Note

 

You must accept the license agreement to create a firmware profile, irrespective of the time you choose to download the image.

Step 6

Click Submit.

Note

 

  • You can click View Location Details to view profile configuration details, click Modify to modify the firmware image details, and click Delete Profile to delete the image profile. You can select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

  • For downloading the E-Series firmware images, you must associate a contract access to the cisco.com account.

Uploading Images from a Local File System

Perform this procedure to upload iso images from your local file system to the system.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.

Step 3

Click Upload to add an image.

Step 4

In the Upload Firmware Image - Local screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Profile Name field

Enter a descriptive and unique profile name.

Platform drop-down list

Select the C-Series or E-Series platform.

File Name field

Choose Browse to search and select a file to upload on your local file system.

Step 5

Click Upload.

Step 6

Click OK in the File Upload confirmation screen, once the upload is complete.

Step 7

Click Close.

Note

 

  • You can view profile configuration details, modify the firmware image details, and delete the image profile. You can also select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

  • The Delete Profile option removes the image associated with the profile. If you uploaded a wrong image or if a file is no longer associated with a profile, a purge system task which runs periodically (once a month) will delete the files from the system.

Adding Images from a Network Server

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Network.

Step 3

Click Add.

Step 4

In the Add Firmware Image - Network screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field

Description

Profile Name field

A descriptive and unique name for the profile.

The profile name must be unique across both Local and Network image profiles.

Platform drop-down list

Choose a platform from the drop-down list.

Mount Type drop-down list

Choose either Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) server types.

Remote IP field

Enter remote IP address.

Remote Share field

Enter remote share path.

Remote File Name field

Enter a remote filename.

Note

 

The remote filename is the Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Configuration Utility ISO file.

User Name field

Enter a network path user name.

Password field

Enter a network path password.

Graceful Timeout check box

Check this check box to specify a time period within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Timeout (in mins) field

Specify a time period, in minutes, within which the host system must shutdown to initiate the firmware upgrade process.

Force Shutdown Server check box

Check this check box to forcibly shut down the host system if it did not shut down within the time specified in the Graceful Timeout (in mins) field.

This option is enabled by default.

Step 5

Click Submit.

Note

 

You can click View Location Details to view profile configuration details, click Modify to modify the firmware image details, and click Delete Profile to delete the image profile. You can also select multiple profiles concurrently and delete them.

Upgrading the Firmware Image

Perform this procedure when you want to upgrade firmware on a rack server.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Firmware Upgrades.

Step 3

Click Run Upgrade.

A warning message stating that the firmware upgrade process will result in downtime of the hosts is displayed.

Step 4

Click OK to confirm.

Step 5

In the Upgrade Firmware screen, complete the following:

Field

Description

Select Profile drop-down list

Choose a profile from the drop-down list.

Server(s) list

Check the check boxes of the servers.

The list displays only those servers whose platform matches the one configured in the selected profile.

Schedule later check box

Check this check box and select an existing schedule to run an upgrade.

You can also click on + icon to create a new schedule. For more information on creating schedules, see Creating Schedules. You can go to Policies > Manage Schedules, select a schedule and click View Scheduled Tasks to verify the scheduled task and its progress. You can also select a scheduled task and click Remove Scheduled Tasks to remove the associated scheduled task.

Step 6

Click Submit.

Deleting the Firmware Image

Perform this procedure when you want to delete only the firmware image and not the profile using which the firmware image was downloaded.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local.

Step 3

Select a profile from the table.

Step 4

Click Delete Image.

Step 5

In the Delete Image(s) screen, click Delete.

The firmware image is deleted from the system. You can download this firmware image from later on by using the Download Image option.

Deleting a Profile Created for Firmware Upgrade

Perform this procedure when you want to delete a profile created for firmware upgrade.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Images - Local or Images - Network.

Step 3

Select a profile from the table.

Step 4

Click Delete Profile.

Step 5

In the confirmation dialog box, click Delete.

Clearing Firmware Upgrade Status Messages

Perform this procedure to clear all firmware-related status messages recorded in the Cisco UCS Director system.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

On the Physical Accounts page, click Firmware Upgrades.

Step 3

Click Delete Upgrade Status.

Step 4

Click Submit.

Firmware Upgrades From SD Cards

As an administrator, you can now perform firmware upgrades on rack servers by downloading ISO images to Miscro SD cards or FlexFlash cards. The user interface provides you with the following options to perform these firmware upgrades:

To use these options, you must first create rack accounts in the system, and then create either local image profiles or network image profiles in the system. For more information on creating these profiles, see Adding Images to a Local Cisco UCS Director System and Adding Images from a Network Server.

Downloading Firmware Image to an SD Card

Before you begin

  • Racks accounts are added in the system.

  • Local and network image profiles are created in the system.

  • On Cisco UCS M4 servers, ensure that the FlexFlash controller is configured in the Util mode and not the mirror mode. If the controller is configured in the mirror mode, you cannot download the ISO file to the SD card. Use the FlexFlash policy to configure the controller in the Util mode.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

Choose Firmware Upgrades - SD.

Step 3

Choose Download Image.

Step 4

In the Download Image screen, complete the required fields, including the following:

Field Name

Description

Download Image From drop-down list

Choose if you want to use a local profile or a network profile to download the image.

Select Profile drop-down list

Choose a profile from the list. This drop-down list displays profiles for only M4 and M5 servers.

Run Upgrade After Download check box

Check this check box if the firmware upgrade process must be initiated immediately after the image is downloaded.

By default, this check box is not checked.

Servers field

Click Select to check the check boxes of the servers on which you want the firmware upgrade process to run on.

Click Select to return to the Download Image screen.

Step 5

Click Submit.

The firmware image is downloaded to the servers that you selected.

What to do next

Initiate the firmware upgrade on the servers. See Running Firmware Upgrade from an SD Card.

Running Firmware Upgrade from an SD Card

Before you begin

You have downloaded the firmware image using the Download Image option. See Downloading Firmware Image to an SD Card.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

Choose Firmware Upgrades - SD.

Step 3

Click Run Upgrade.

Step 4

Click Select to check the check boxes of the servers on which you want the firmware upgrade process to run on.

Step 5

Click Select.

Step 6

Click Submit.

The firmware upgrade process is initiated on the selected servers. You can review the progress of the upgrade from the Images -SD screen. The status is displayed in the Upgrade Status column.

Deleting Image Download Messages

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Physical Accounts.

Step 2

Choose Firmware Upgrades - SD.

Step 3

Choose a profile from the list and click Delete Status.

Step 4

In the Delete Image Download Messages screen, click Delete.